Written Answers Thursday 12 February 2009

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it attaches to improving animal welfare.

Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government attaches considerable importance to animal welfare. The passing of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 was a significant step in improving the welfare of animals. The act increased the penalties for animal cruelty, imposed a duty of care on those responsible for animals and allowed animals in danger of suffering to be removed.

Children

Aileen Campbell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role orchards, such as those promoted by the children’s orchards initiative, can play in promoting healthy and active lifestyles and building a green legacy from the 2011 International Children’s Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Nicola Sturgeon: Improving Scotland’s health will be the unifying theme of our Games Legacy Plan. We continue to work with a range of key internal and external representatives covering the interests of all sectors – including health, education and the environment - to ensure we work up a plan that embeds that theme and can deliver a range of benefits. As part of that work we will also make connections with other major events such as the 2011 International Children’s Games.

  The Children’s Orchard have submitted a proposal for consideration as part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy programme. This is one of many ideas currently under consideration by the Games Legacy Greener sub-group.

Early Years

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it recognises the important part that health visitors can play in delivering the early years strategy and what steps it will be taking to improve the recruitment, training and employment of health visitors.

Shona Robison: Health visiting skills, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, are important in the support and care of young children and in achieving the aims of the early years framework. Working with others, NHS Education for Scotland are running a number of education initiatives to ensure that the training and development needs of health visitors and practitioners are met. The recruitment and employment of health visitors is a matter for health boards who will determine their workforce based on the needs and demographics of local populations.

Employment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time taken was to process an enhanced disclosure submitted in (a) October, (b) November and (c) December 2008.

Adam Ingram: The information requested is not separately recorded for enhanced disclosures. However, information about the average processing time for a standard or enhanced disclosure issued during each month can be provided. The average turnaround time for standard and enhanced certificates issued in October, November and December 2008 was 14.2 days, 17 days and 18.8 days respectively. Disclosure Scotland has a service level agreement to issue 90% of all applications where no further enquiries are needed within 14 calendar days.

  In October last year, a major IT change to implement a disaster recovery solution was made to the workflow system that supports the work of Disclosure Scotland. The change caused the system performance of the automated work steps to slow down the progress of cases from one step of the process to the next, resulting in bottlenecks and backlogs, and worsening turnaround times.

  We have taken action to address this matter and there has been gradual improvement in turnaround times to the extent that at week ending 8 February 2009 the average turnaround time for standard and enhanced certificates was 18.1 days.

Employment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications were made to Disclosure Scotland with regard to people employed as Father Christmas and his assistants prior to Christmas 2008.

Adam Ingram: During the 2008 Christmas Season, Disclosure Scotland has been able to identify 17 applications for people being employed to represent Father Christmas and his assistants.

Employment

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it issues guidance to local authorities regarding the temporary seasonal employment of persons whose work involves contact with children, such as people employed as Father Christmas and his assistants.

Adam Ingram: Each year during November and December, Disclosure Scotland places guidance on its website to be used by all organisations employing people to represent Father Christmas and his assistants.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with NHS Ayrshire and Arran about hospital-acquired infections.

Nicola Sturgeon: I meet with chairs of NHS boards on a monthly basis and Healthcare Associated Infection is a standing agenda item for discussion.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing was first aware of the emergence of the new and potentially more dangerous 078 strain of Clostridium difficile in hospitals.

Nicola Sturgeon: I was alerted to the emergence of this strain shortly before Health Protection Scotland published their Surveillance of Clostridium difficile Associated Disease in Scotland quarterly report dated 2 July 2008.

  Health Protection Scotland (HPS) are undertaking further studies to better understand the virulence of this strain. Meantime, they have issued revised guidance to laboratories to allow them to build a clearer picture of ribotype distribution and antibiotic resistance in Scotland.

  I have also asked Health Protection Scotland to co-ordinate a study of all Clostridium difficile ribotypes to give us an accurate picture of the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile strains across Scotland.

Healthcare Associated Infection

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of the 078 strain of Clostridium difficile have been identified in care homes, broken down by care home.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the levels of MRSA and Clostridium difficile were in care homes in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08 and (c) the first three quarters of 2008-09.

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures levels of Clostridium difficile in care homes and what body is responsible for doing so.

Nicola Sturgeon: Patients in care homes are treated by GPs, just as any other member of the public in the community would be, therefore this information is not held centrally. Given the importance of the care home sector, the HAI Task Force is taking forward a specific action to explore surveillance of healthcare associated infection (HAI) with the Independent Care Home Sector and how it can best be applied. To assist care homes in their understanding of HAI, the Scottish Government’s Health Directorates have funded a Nurse Consultant in an HAI post. The post-holder took up post beginning of February.

Justice

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on its work addressing the impact of violence and abuse in the workplace on the mental and physical health of betting shop workers.

Shona Robison: I would like to make it clear that acts of violence and abuse against anyone working in a public facing role are unacceptable. It is a key responsibility of employers to protect their staff from harm in the workplace.

  The Cabinet Secretary for Justice will meet with representatives of betting shop owners and employees in the near future to discuss action on the risks facing staff.

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many consulates and other international organisations with staff holding diplomatic immunity operate in Scotland.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20267 on 11 February 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any successful current initiatives in schools that are helping to reduce the carrying of knives and knife crime among young people.

Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is aware of a range of resources and curricular programmes currently available in schools aimed to help reduce the carrying of knives and knife crime among young people.

  The national Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) - funded by the Scottish Government - has promoted programmes and materials on the dangers of knife carrying to schools and young people as part of its anti-violence campaign, including the Knife City DVD and the Ít’s Jist for Protection performance by young people.

  It is up to individual schools, youth organisations and local authorities to decide on which resources to use from the wide range of materials and educational programmes available on the dangers of illegal knife carrying, as they are best placed to judge the needs of the children and young people in their communities.

Mental Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recent reports raising concerns over mental health in relation to the recession, what is being done to ensure that people have the support that they need.

Shona Robison: The uncertainty and change that is the consequence of the economic situation can be difficult for many people to cope with. The Scottish Government funds a range of programmes and services which offer support, including the Breathing Space telephone advice line for those suffering from low mood or depression and the National Debt Line which has in the last month launched a public awareness campaign.

Mental Health

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from mental health organisations in opposition to the merger of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland with NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

Shona Robison: Ministers have received representations from various stakeholders expressing concerns and seeking further engagement about the proposal to bring the Mental Welfare Commission into a new scrutiny body.

  Ministers are considering how these representations can be addressed in the proposed changes.

Rail Network

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the redundancies announced by rail company DB Schenker, previously the English Welsh and Scottish Railway Ltd, will have an impact on employment in the rail industry and freight services in Scotland.

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government does not hold information on this matter.

Rail Network

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of recent announcements by rail companies, Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation, what steps it is taking to protect train lines and services.

Stewart Stevenson: First ScotRail operates the services specified in its Franchise Agreement with Scottish ministers. First ScotRail is contracted under the terms of this agreement to continue to provide these services.

  Network Rail is required under the terms of its license to provide at least the current level of service on the network and to improve that over the coming five year period as specified by Scottish ministers in their High Level Output Specification, and monitored and enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation.

Renewable Energy

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in helping to facilitate the adoption of biomass boilers.

Jim Mather: Good progress is being made. We offer support to a wide range of organisations, both public and private and at an individual household level to assist with the installation of biomass boilers.

  The Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative has provided 245 grants to householders, totalling over £715,000 and 66 grants to communities, totalling over £2.5 million, to install biomass boilers.

  The £7.5 million Scottish Biomass Support Scheme ran in the financial year 2007-08 and supported 60 projects. Building on that success, the Scottish Government launched the Scottish Biomass Heat Scheme in December 2008. The scheme is Scotland-wide, with funding of £2 million from April 2009 to March 2011.

Road Safety

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-16179 by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008, what the outcome was of the assessment into the effectiveness of the speed camera system on the A77.

Stewart Stevenson: The accident data for the three year period before and the following three years after the installation of the A77 average speed camera system was published on the A77 safety group website on 30 October 2008. These figures are being assessed and a report is due by 31 March 2009. A summary of the findings will be published shortly thereafter on the Safety Group website.

Schools

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be provided to allow Glasgow City Council to improve its primary school estate.

Fiona Hyslop: Record levels of capital funding are being provided to local authorities - £175 million (or 20%) more in 2009-10 than in 2007-08. That includes £100 million of capital expenditure to be accelerated from 2010-11.

  In 2007-08, Glasgow City Council received a Schools Fund allocation of £14.65 million. Excluding ring-fenced grants, for 2008-09 and 2009-10, the Council will receive £83.6 million and £92.1 million respectively, to support capital investment in all infrastructure, including schools.

  It is for Glasgow City Council to decide how it deploys its share of capital funding, including on school projects.

Schools

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the fruit provided under the Free Fruit in Schools initiative is (a) grown in Scotland and (b) fairtrade certified.

Adam Ingram: This information is not held centrally. However, under the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007, local authorities have a duty to have regard to guidance issued by Scottish Ministers on the application of the principles of sustainable development when providing food or drink or catering services in schools.

  The existing guidance, Integrating sustainable development into procurement of food and catering services, is available on the Scottish Government website at:

  www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/PublicProcurement/ProcurementPolicy/coporate-responsibility/Integrationofsusdevinfood.

  The guidance contains advice on various sustainable development issues, including fairtrade and local sourcing, and how to pursue these various issues whilst staying within EU procurement law.

Scottish Government Events

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) its policy is and (b) the arrangements are for inviting local MPs and MSPs to official functions organised by it.

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for making the final decision regarding the invitation lists for official engagements organised by it.

John Swinney: There is no policy regarding this issue, however, the commissioning policy area within the Scottish Government in consultation with stakeholders and the ministerial host determine the compilation of invitation lists for official engagements organised by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government Events

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to what official engagements organised by it since May 2007 local MPs have been invited.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government publishes on a quarterly basis on the Scottish Government website ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/hospitality ) the guest lists of those who have accepted an invitation to attend a Scottish Government hospitality event.

  Information regarding the invitation of MPs to engagements is not held centrally and to locate and compile this information could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Scottish Government Expenditure

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on all aspects of the Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons.

Bruce Crawford: The total spent on the Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons to date is £117.58.

Scottish Government Publications

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were associated with the production of the A77 Maybole Transport Study - Design Manual for Roads and Bridges - Stage 2 Report .

Stewart Stevenson: The costs associated with the production of the A77 Maybole Transport Study – DMRB Stage 2 Report were £605,092.21.